In Arlington, Texas, a homeowner was just settling in the for evening on Sunday when they heard something strange going on outside. Seconds later, they were on the phone with police when they realized what a woman was doing down the street, but it only got worse when their front door opened.
Amanda Smith is the mother of two boys, a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old, but nobody on her street knew much about the family until the mother made a grand entrance, unannounced, through her neighbor’s unlocked front door with her 2-year-old in tow. What the homeowner witnessed in their front room got sicker by the second when they saw her naked baby.
According to the Star-Telegram, Smith appeared very intoxicated when police showed up to the startled neighbor’s house. As she saw them coming, she grabbed her child and tried to run, but didn’t make it too far before they caught up with her. Nobody knew there was a second child in her care until after they took her into custody and she revealed she had an infant as well, but she forgot what she had done with him. Eight hours later, they found the baby boy and were shocked at what they saw all over his body.
Officers said Smith was so intoxicated that communicating with her about the whereabouts of the baby was next to impossible. She tried to claim that the boy was with his grandmother, but when that grandma showed up to the scene, she didn’t have the baby. Later, the mother mentioned something about leaving the infant in a field behind and automotive shop. When police searched the area, they were stunned at what they found.
At about 3:30 a.m., hours after Smith’s 7:30 p.m. arrest, cops located the baby near a creek, somewhat in the general area of the automotive shop the mother mentioned. The infant was found buried in thick brush, under his stroller, and covered in bug bites from head-to-toe. Miraculously, he was still alive and in reasonably decent condition considering the circumstances.
“He was hidden behind a dilapidated fence,” Lt. Christopher Cook said. “He was only wearing a diaper and had bug bites and a rash. The child, miraculously, was OK.”
The mother was charged just with abandoning and endangering a child, which seems like a small offense for what she’s accused of doing. She should have been hit with neglect and abuse. She should suffer the consequences of that as a more serious offense, but instead, she’ll be let off with a simple fine and will likely get her kids back quickly from Child Protective Services.
Someone doesn’t just go on a drunken tirade and abandon their naked baby in a bush, after a single night of drinking too much. This woman has a problem and is in no position to be a parent to these small children who require a lot of her attention, but they certainly aren’t getting it.
